Foxy - Quilt Top

Sometimes simply patchwork is the best. Let the fabric speak for itself. I needed that this week, some easy piecing - sew press repeat. Cute fabric is definitely a plus. Now to find something for the back of this baby quilt. I'm thinking I might have to make a trip to the fabric store for some soft and cuddly minky. 

Gus was not overly impressed by our mini photo shoot this afternoon. But like a trooper he hung out with me. He has been pretty needy these past two weeks, not leaving my side very often. I'm rather enjoying his company.

Fur Babies

I know you can't get enough of the cuteness that is Gus and Mr. Erwin. 

#Duckface

Gus and I were practicing our duck-face selfies this weekend. He needs to work on his.

A Lesson in Dinner Time and the Order of Things

When Erwin first arrived at our home it was established rather quickly that he would get fed when Gus did. Trying to leave his dish full at all times so he could snack throughout the day was pointless, unless we wanted to have an obese dog.  And putting his dish up high out of the dogs reach was also. Erwin is a cat of many talents, but vertical hops is not one of them.  So he gets feed twice a day, and he knows when it is time to eat. Dinner time for the fur babies is normally at 5pm. Heaven help you if it gets to 530 and you haven’t fed the cat. He will let you know he is wasting away to nothing.  Like, if you don’t feed him in the next ten minutes he will starve to death. He sings you a song about this as he’s rolling on the floor buy your feet trying to look as cute and needy as possible.  Needless to say these antics normally get his food bowl filled first, just to shut him up.

The other evening I made the mistake of filling up Gus’s bowl first. Well Erwin made a b-line to the bowl of food and started mowing it down. Poor Gus just stood there and watched him. He was too polite to push him out of the way; he just stood there while the cat ate HIS food.  I grabbed Erwin and took him over to his bowl and filled it up so everyone could have their own dinner.

Gus immediately dove nose first in his food bowl and started to scarf it down. He had to eat quick before the cat came back and stole it from him again. He got a few mouthfuls in, and then well…he ate to fast and you know what can happen when you do that. Poor Gus, the cat tried to eat his food then he regurgitated in his own bowl to render the rest of it inedible. The look on his face was priceless.

Lesson learned. Erwin ALWAYS gets fed first, cause he’s a needy cat who is wasting away to nothing.  That and we don’t want Gus giving himself a tummy ache on account of the cat again.

Erwin

Last week Friday we brought home the newest addition to our family. Why am I waiting till a week later to tell you this story? Well I wanted to make sure this story had a happy ending. You never know what its’ going to be like when you bring a cat home and expect your dog to be OK with it. The dog that has been an only child his whole life. The dog who loves to chase cats. The dog who goes nuts when Mr. B pretends to be holding a kitty. Yes we brought a cat home to that dog.

I had been looking around for a kitten. Don’t judge me, but a wanted a cheap or free kitten. I had been looking for a few weeks going back and forth on the whole thing. You know it’s a free kitty then it’s the shots and the vet visits and of course we would get him/her fixed. I don’t need no grand babies anytime soon. Then I thought hey, why not try the humane society. They always have lots of cats, and they go home already fixed and with their shots. Wouldn't you know, last week they were having an adopt-a-thon. They had too many cats.

So Friday night we drove to the city to look at cats, I was prepared and had already submitted our application for pre-approval. As long as we picked out a kitty that was already fixed we could take him/her home that night. (saves us a trip). On the way there we noticed the MINI wasn't running quite right. Ok not a biggy make an appointment and Mr. B would drop her at the shop tomorrow. We were thinking the clutch was starting to slip. Well we get almost there and it is apparent the clutch isn't just slipping, it’s almost shot. NOT GOOD.

How does this happen? Well, probably a combo of Mr B driving it like a race car, the previous owner, and well um me resting my foot on the clutch. In my defense even though my instructor was great in teaching me to drive a manual, luv you honey, he never told me not to rest my foot. How am I supposed to know something that was never told to me!

We were able to make it to the humane society. Since we were there Mr. B had me go inside to pick out the cat while he made some calls to have the MINI towed to the shop and find us a ride home. I have an awesome husband, I know! There were so many fur babies to choose from. How was I to pick. I looked at some kittens and meet with them one on one in the adoption room. They were soo tiny and a tad on the skittish side. I talked with the staff member about wanted a laid back sociable cat. She suggested one a five month old male, we met with him and I fell in love. 

We decided to name him Erwin, after the physicist Erwin Schrodinger. Letting our geek flag fly just a tad on that one. The paperwork was completed and Mr. B had made the arrangements for the car. The three of us took a taxi home and the car was towed to the shop. Then it was time for the boys to meet. 

Obviously since I’m here telling you this story it has a happy ending. How happy? Well only time will tell how awesome it will get having two fur babies in our house. But let’s just say when I got home yesterday they were both taking a nap on the bed. Yes sleeping in the same space together, willingly.  

And how's the car you may ask? Almost $1000 later the MINI is back in tip-top shape.

A Weekend of Firsts

This weekend we gave the babies their first taste of watermelon.

 

 

 

 

 We wanted them to enjoy a tasty treat this hot July weekend. They attacked it like piranhas.

 

 

 

 

 

Gus Gus also is a watermelon fiend. But he waited oh so patiently for the babies to be done.

 

 

 

Then he finished it off.

 

 

 

After digging into the melon the babies were just a tad on the sticky side. They needed a bath, so we brought out the kiddie pool and gave them their first "swim".

 

 

 

We had to put some steps next to it and in it, right now their little leggies are too small to let them climb in and out. It didn't take them long to figure it out.

 

He's Super Fast

Mr. B and I took a break while we were doing yard work to take some pictures. I was trying to get some action shots of Bruce and Christmas chasing Gus.

BTW: I was mowing the grass and it snowed. WTF mother nature! It's May, the flowers are up the trees are getting their leaves you decided to snow. Not amused.

Instead Mr. B got this one of Gus all wound up while I was playing with my new toy. We went to Fleet Farm to get some materials to make a raised flower bed. Rather than lumber or end pieces we came home with a new pellet gun and some targets, cause that's how we roll.  

Gus gets all excited when we use it. I should really get a video of it. He does this funny dance and growls/whines in anticipation. All of this steams from Mr. B playing nurf wars with him.

Wordless Wednesday

Mr. Stinky No More

Gus got a bath tonight. He is Mr. Stinky no more. 

Well, at least till tomorrow afternoon when he goes on his adventures. 

Easter Brunch and An Egg Hunt

We went to my mothers over the weekend to celebrate Easter. As usual she hosted a delicious brunch. With all manner of wonderful things to eat. 

My big sista made a sausage roll, OMG wonderful.  My little sista made us a spinach and mushroom frittata. Mom supplied the ham, a fruit tray, and some pancakes. I brought the cake. 

She also hosts an egg hunt for the grand-kids. This year it was a scavanger type egg hunt with clues to find your next egg and ultimately your Easter present. My parents and I fun the night before thinking of all the clues. 

Gus on the other hand decided he need to have his egg hunt on Saturday. See these beautiful eggs. Miss Talula Bell has been working on this nest for over a week. 

Gus took himself on an adventure Saturday while we were working on some major renovation project, we shall talk about that tomorrow. His adventure took him all over the neighborhood and then back to the porch, where he found the nest and the four eggs. He snatched them and ate them. All of them! The odds of us having any goslings running around just went way down. I think she will still be laying for the next few weeks. I might have to purchase a incubator and snatch the eggs myself this time. 

It's Here

After months of deliberating and a week of not so patiently waiting. It's here!! I went out and bought my self (well it's my Christmas, Anniversary, Birthday, and Valentines day present all rolled up in one) a Nikon D3000. 

Be prepared to be blown away by my mad photography skills. Cause every one knows that owning a nice camera automatically makes you an amazing photographer.

 Poor Gus, he is probably going to get sick of having his picture taken real soon. 

They're Back

Or maybe they never left, the fleas that is.

I prefer they're back.

Last weekend Gus really started to chew at his back, on his hinnie right above his tale. By the Thursday night it was all scabby and nasty. We decided we needed to take him to the vet.  I thought perhaps it was allergies.  We have been using a flea preventative, Front-line, since the November out break and had seen no traces of fleas on Gus or in our house so the idea that it could of them never crossed my mind. 

At the vet office, the assistant used a special flea comb and couldn’t find any of the nasty little buggers.  We discussed the possibility of allergies, Gus had started eating a lot of the corn that we feed the geese, his food is grain free there were some tummy issues in the past. Then the vet came in and she used the comb. She found one. The horror, I wanted the ground to swallow me up, I felt like I failed as a mom. How could I let me baby get them again and not realize it! Besides how could he have them?  After the all out war we had declared on them in November and the preventative, he should be fine. Not and itchy-scabby mess, it was supposed to be allergies he was going to go home with some steroids and creams and a cone of shame and that would be the end of that.

Now it’s flea baths and sprays and powders, mountains of laundry and a lot vacuuming.  Come to find out what we were going through wasn’t that uncommon. The vet said they were seeing resistance to the preventative, Front-line. We weren’t the only ones. That made me feel somewhat better. I still wanted to cry knowing the battle that waited for us when we got home.

 He is now on Vectra-3D. Gus’s doctor said this is a better product and they don’t even administer FL at their clinic any more. They also gave him an antibiotic for all his scabies and a shot to suppress his immune system to help with the itchy scratchies. Apparently some dogs are sensitive to fleas while others can have hundreds without being all scabby. Gus happens to be one of the special ones. A single flea bite can drive him nuts, he is allergic to their saliva. Gross I know.  

He is doing much better. He has stopped itching and the scabies are starting to heal. We applied the Vectra right when we got home and haven’t seen any fleas. The house has been sprayed and thoroughly vacuumed.

As far as if they were living with us all this time, I think not. Gus is allergic, we would have known. He also spent a weekend in February at his Gammie’s, there are no fleas at her house and her dog doesn’t have them either. I think he picked them up again. It was nice out last week and we were letting him spend long periods of time outside on adventures, he probably one of his friends or a wild animal shared them with him

Moral of the story: Fleas suck, Front-Line isn’t all its cracked up to be, and Gus has sensitive skin.

One of Gus's Many Sad Faces

Gus Gus does NOT like being dressed up in any type of clothing. You put something on him, a hat, a sock, a shirt, and he freezes. He doesn’t want to move.  You can sense his humiliation. He puts on his most pathetic face to make you feel sorry for him. I must be a horrible mother because I find his faces at these moments most amusing. So amusing I thought I would share one with you.

Upgrade

Over Thanksgiving Mr. B's sister came to visit. And have the best baby shower evah! While she was here she laid claim to something that was hers; or so she claims, but we aren't going to get into that.  She took Gus's orange chair back to Mississippi with her. 

It was traumatic for Gus. He didn't know where he was supposed to take his pre-nap-nap and his nap and his post-nap-nap. Not to mention where he was supposed to sleep at night. The couch is off limits and the bed has been too, shh Gus has had fleas. They are gone now but, for a time I was leery of letting him sleep with me.  Needless to say Gus was lost without it.

This weekend we decided to get Gus his Christmas present a few weeks early. A new chair. We drove to the big city to check out some furniture stores. We came home with this. 

A new, get this leather, chair for Gus. Yeah he's a tad spoiled. But hey we got a steal on it. I think it's quite the upgrade from the old one. Gus isn't so sure yet. The other one was well broke in, it smelled like Grammy's and him. 

I think in time it will be his new favorite spot. That is if he can keep Mr. B out of it. The past few nights it has been pulled out of the corner. It has been moved to the middle of the living room so Mr. B can sit in it and save the world. (He got a new video game when we took our trip to the city.) He has already told me that someday when the command center/man cave is up and running it's going up there. 

Poor Gus always loosing his chairs.

Nappy Dog

Someone had a long holiday weekend playing with all of his furry cousins. Good thing his Honkers makes such a nice pillow. 

Honkers the Fourth

Gus has one stuffie. It is his most favorite toy it also doubles as his pillow. A hedgehog that honked, not squeaked  Mama can't stand the high pitched squeakie toys. We nicknamed the stuffie honker. Over time it has become his security blanket. Over the  years we have gone through four hedgehogs. 

The first one we got him lasted about a year. He obsessively liked on spot on it's rear to the point were there was no fur in that spot and the stuffing started to fall out. Being the doting parents that we are we got him a new one. The same exact thing. This one was lost in when we moved from the apartment to Shady Acres. Once again we got him a new one. Honkers the Third. 

When we where fighting the infestation this weekend we decided rather that try to wash Honkers and his bed would just burn them. Sad, I know, but it was simpler than trying to deal with the flea eggs that were probably living in them.

Yesterday we went once again to the pet store to replace the favorite toy. We now have Honkers the Fourth. You can't tell from the picture but my baby boy was so very excited to once again have Honkers. This one even made noise, over time they wear out. He has been dutifully breaking it in, slobbering on it and shaping it to make the perfect pillow. 

Infestation

Friday night we were sitting around talking just before dinner. Mr. B was giving Gus a belly rub. What dog doesn't like a good belly rub. Gus is no different. And lately he has been really itchy and it's so easy to get both his kickers going. We assumed he was shedding and had a mild case of allergies. I was giving him Claritin for the itchiness and was going t make a vet appointment for early next week. 

Well I don't have to make a vet appointment. Gus doesn't have allergies. Gus has fleas. You heard me right F-L-E-A-S. As in the nasty creepy crawlies that bight and make you itch and lay eggs in everything. Yes we have an infestation of fleas at this house.  Mr. B found a few of them on his belly during the belly rub. 

Neither of us made the lovely ham penne bake that I was making for dinner. There was no time. It was 7pm on Friday evening and we had to plan our counter attack. Mr. B would drive to the big city to find some shampoo for the dog and something to treat all the furniture. Unfortunately we Gus thinks he needs to take his afternoon naps on our bed or the couch. I would take everything that could possibly be contaminated and could be washed to the laundromat. That was allot of stuff. All the bedding all the dirty clothes, we let them pile on the floor in the corner of the room and the dog sometimes sleeps on them, all the rugs that could be washed. It was a car full! 

By the time we made it to bed four hours later I think we had a good start on controlling the out break. The dog had been bathed, the furniture and large area rugs had been doused in spray and vacuumed  Everything had been washed in hot soapy water. Thank goodness we don't have wall to wall carpeting in the house anymore. I can only imagine the army of eggs that would be living in that. 

Yesterday I applied Frontline to the dog. I know I should have been doing that all along and we wouldn't be in this situation. I think I have learned my lesson well. From now on Frontline year round. I do feel like a horrible mom for letting this happen to my baby boy. I thought that now that it was getting cooler out we would be in the clear. I guess not. I also feel like crap thinking he had allergies and was itching himself raw in some places. The thought of fleas never even crossed my mind. 

I think the main battle is over. For the next few weeks we just need to be diligent in bathing Gus and spraying down the house. We need keep the eggs under control till the risk of them hatching and rising up against to avenge their parents. We should be in the clear in time for Thanksgiving. Sorry to say our house is in quarantine right now and none of Gus's doggie friends will be allowed over to play. 

Mr. Gus's New Toy

Mr. Gus found a new toy laying in the yard this weekend. He carried it around and munched on it all afternoon. 

You know what it was. 

A zucchini. 

That's right a zucchini. By the end of the afternoon he had eaten the whole thing. At least someone around here is getting his vegetables. 

Clean Up

Two nights ago we had a storm pass through. Nothing world ending, no major damage. Standing on the porch watching the front move in, feeling the temp drop, and hearing the wind pick up was rather eerie. Not that I'm afraid of storms, I'm just not particularly fond of them. 

We haven't had a good storm in quite a while with that heavy of winds. We have a trees. We have allot of trees, BIG trees. We don't call it Shady Acres for nothing. 

The day after the storm cleared we had a bit of pick up to do. No trees fell, but lots of branches. Here is the pile we collected. We shall have a nice fire soon. 

The birds weathered out the storm in the coop. 

No worse for the wear. 

Gus hung out in the house with Mr. B and I. I'm glad he isn't afraid of storms. He's my nice brave boy.  

Stinky Fish Dog

About two years ago my mother made a comment about Gus smelling like dead fish. The nieces happened to hear that. They were young and impressionable. From then on out Gus was the stinky fish dog. He doesn't really smell like dead fish he smells like dog. But you can't explain that to those little girls. Nana said he smelt like dead fish and that was that.

When we were up north Gus and Murphy, his BFF forever, found a bag of fish guts to roll in. First time he has ever rolled in anything gross apart from cow poo. Well the Beans goes to Nana, now they both really do smell like dead fish. It was one of those moments that you remember. She said it so matter of fact, and it was so true. 

 Well we have been at home for two weeks now. I thought it was all behind us, the rolling in nastiness. Not so much. The past few days Gus has been going on adventures and coming home rank. Not like dead fish, but like dead something.

Sunday I thought maybe he rolled in cow crap. But the smell wasn't quite there. Hey, we live in the country I know what cow poo smells like. He got a bath. At least when you tell him he stinks and needs a bath he willingly walks to the bathroom and climbs into the tub and waits.

(how many dogs do you know that do that!)

Tuesday he disappeared for about an hour. You need to know something about Gus. We don't tie him up. He normally stays around the yard. If he does go visiting he always comes home with in a half hour or so. If not the sound of the ATV makes him come running. So anyway Tuesday he goes on an adventure. He found something. He rolled in it. He brought a piece of it's bones home to chew on. Yup G-R-O-S-S!! It was beyond nauseating. He got a bath. He got scrubbed with doggie wash, twice. He even got his teeth brushed. 

Wednesday night I let him out and I made a bee line to the bathroom. He was literally outside by himself for five minutes. He wondered off again.  It was like he was thinking about it all day. As soon as he was free of the house he ran to it. He rolled in it. He reveled in it. Then he came home from his rot binge and felt like crap. Mom was mad. He knew he was naughty.  Draw the bath and wait for him to be ready to come inside. Eventually he was and he was marched straight into the bathroom for another bath. He got scrubbed with doggie wash twice. At lest he didn't bring any pieces home with him.

Three baths in four days. I am now out of doggie wash. And there still is a slight odor to him, if you bury your nose in fur in just the right spot you get a slight whiff. Let me tell you getting the smell of rotting flesh out of a dog is not easy. I blame Murphy. He never did anything like this until she introduced him to the bag of rotting fish guts.